Manhunt
by Mystical Authoress
Summary: AU. When Monica is forced to be a slave to one of the Arena's most dangerous fighters, Meister Kirisaki, she eventually discovers the man behind the intimidating appearance, as well as another fellow fighter who decides to help her through the process. Unfortunately for them, the world of the Arena is like the childish game of 'Manhunt,' except deadlier and tougher than expected.
1. Slave

**Author note: I do not own Yakitate! Japan. **

**...I swear I have too many fanfiction ideas...I just had to write this one before it disappeared into non-existence...This is the only excuse I can give for writing this fic, besides the fact that I wanted to continue working on my world-building skills in writing.**

**Warning: AU, varied pairings including possible shounen-ai or shoujo-ai, lots of violence, possible swearing**

**Constructive Criticism would be great, and I hope you read, review and enjoy! Thanks!**

* * *

**_Manhunt_**

* * *

**1. Slave**

A young woman with orange hair tied back in two long, messy pigtails, struggled against chains she was ensnared in. Resistance was futile, however, as the guards continued to drag her towards the stage.

Monica Adenauer had no idea why she had been forced to be sold at this slave auction. The thought of it, and the fact that she was scantily clad for all the buyers to see, disgusted her. The fighters of the Arena were willing to buy any slaves to use for whatever purposes they wished, and quite a few of them, she was sure, were perverted men.

She didn't know when this idea of an Arena started, but it quickly became very popular with everyone in the Empire. Homeless men and women were picked off the streets to be used as slaves for whoever signed up to become a fighter at the Arena. The more fights that the fighter won, the more money, fame and glory they had, as well as slaves. Of course, the less fights they won, the less they would get. That was obvious.

_"Slave number 666, everyone! Slave number 666! This is the one you've all been waiting for!"_ The auctioneer's voice blared through loudspeakers as the men cheered.

She was pushed onstage by the guards, and the crowd roared as they got a view of her. She looked away, ashamed of how she looked in front of them, and that her fate was to be a slave to one of these terrible men. She quite seriously thought that the idea of the Arena did not turn out well.

The government became corrupted over the prospect of wealth, and the people had become just as corrupted, too. The world, she figured, was much better than this idea of an Arena and slaves and...

_"The starting bid is 500!" _

Immediately, all the fighters in the room began to shout at once.

_"550!"_

_"560!"_

_"650!"_

Monica shut her eyes as she listened to the bid rising higher and higher. Obviously, a lot of these people wanted _her _as their slave for who knows what purpose...

_"5000!"_

Everyone immediately turned to the one who had shouted such a high price for the slave-to-be, and quite a few of them let out murmurs of surprise or gasps of shock.

_"Well, here we have fighter number 666, Meister Kirisaki, the one everyone calls the Grim Reaper!" _The auctioneer crowed. _"Will anyone go against his bid? Anyone willing to go to 5100? Anyone?"_

No one dared to speak a word, and Monica tried to spot this 'Meister Kirisaki' in the crowd. Unfortunately, he was too far back in the room for her to see him.

_"Going once...Going twice...SOLD, to_ _Meister Kirisaki for 5000! Give it up for him, folks!"_

The crowd let out a roar of approval as Meister Kirisaki walked towards the stage. Monica glanced at the man carefully as he walked closer. He wore a titanium mask over his face, concealing all but the light blue eyes and pale lips underneath. He wore a long, silky robe of pure white, with hints of silver on the shoulder parts of the robe. His tight gloves were a pure white as well, with a silver ribbon around the hem of each glove. His trousers were a raven black, and his boots were white, slowly fading into a grey smoky colour. His long blond hair trailed from behind him, down to his waist.

Meister Kirisaki looked at Monica disapprovingly after paying the nearby auctioneer, before speaking. "I'm afraid that attire won't do, as I don't like my slaves so...exposing in appearance, but I suppose I can get something much more modest for you to wear by the morning." He spoke, eyeing her quietly. His words were spoken with a slightly blunt, but concerned tone. "...Come with me." He gripped the chain that bound her, and she had no choice but to tag along with the fancifully dressed man.

* * *

A young man sighed as he walked down the street, pulling the bandanna down slightly over his face. Tonight was a night for the Slave Auction, but he didn't bother to go. He didn't need slaves. He could do perfectly fine by himself. He could fix up his own injuries, cook himself food, and he was able to take care of himself whenever he got sick. He would be fine by himself. Right?

"Suwabara-san?"

The bandanna-wearing man paused in his stroll, looking up slightly to see Meister Kirisaki walk over to him. Accompanying him was a scantily-clad, orange-haired female who Suwabara assumed was his newest slave of the sorts.

"Ah, it is you. I didn't think you liked to go out for a wander on a night like this." Meister commented quietly, smiling a bit.

"I didn't think you were actually interested in getting chained, scantily clad people to be your slaves." Kai responded, crossing his arms.

Meister glanced at the chained girl, before responding. "Oh no, Suwabara, it's_ nothing_ like that I assure you..." He paused, before speaking up. "Her name is Monica Adenauer, item no. 666...The same number as my fighter number. Interesting, isn't it? I got her from the Slave Auction earlier for 5000."

The girl didn't seem to happy with Kai's earlier remark, nor did she seem too delighted with Meister talking about her like some sort of conquest. Meister glanced at her again, before continuing. "If you ever want a chat with her, Suwabara, you can go on ahead as long as you have my permission, just like with Inaho and Kuroyanagi-kun. I do think you keeping her company would be nice for her."

"You got _her _for that high a price? A lot of people must have wanted her as their slave for obvious reasons." Suwabara responded. He paused, thinking that he had the opportunity to talk with this girl. Well...He supposed it would be alright to talk with her, but... "You better make sure you get some clothes on her before I go speak with her, though."

"Of course people would want her for obvious reasons. But my reasons, Suwabara, are not that obvious. I can tell you the most important reason for why I would want slaves is not for sexual purpose, but rather to, ah, fill up the _loneliness_ I have in my spare time. That would be the sole reason for having servants...At least, in my case. They make for good companions if treated well enough." Meister started, and then he paused before finishing. "And I'll make sure to clothe her properly before you first see her again. Have a good evening, Suwabara."

Meister gave a quiet nod, before he and the girl to head in the opposite direction of where Suwabara was headed. Suwabara glanced behind him, to see Monica glance from behind her to see him. The two paused, before turning and going their separate ways.

* * *

"Inaho, Kuroyanagi. We have a new one." Meister Kirisaki gestured to an orange-haired girl, scantily clad and shivering from the cold weather of the evening outdoors. "Get her some proper clothing, now, and unchain her as well. Get her something warm to drink, too. I don't want her dying of hypothermia in one night. Understood?"

"Yes sir." Both servants, clad in black uniforms, spoke before the female one (probably Inaho) and the male one (Kuroyanagi) walked either to a closet to grab a similar black uniform, or towards Monica to start unchaining her.

Meister led Monica to an armchair, seating her before he seated himself opposite her on a couch. "You should be lucky that I bought you. I'll tell you that, because I'm sure all the rest were perverted men that want to get their dirty hands on whatever is available." He started. "And second, if you don't want me bringing out the Scavenger's Daugther to use on you, don't bother trying to assassinate me in any way. I have a strong resistance against all poisons, and I can still fight in my sleep somewhat, so you would just end up killing yourself in the process. Understood?"

Monica let out a breath, before nodding once. Obviously, this man was someone she couldn't mess with too much. She had to escape. Soon. She just had to find the right time...

"Oh, and...Don't bother trying to escape, because there are security guards outside this building and will probably use some sort of electric weapon on you. And then they will probably resell you in the auction. I don't believe you would want to get resold to anyone right now, would you? Unless, of course, you don't want me to make sure you're well-fed and all."

"You don't know me." Monica snapped, doing her best to glare at him. "Quit playing games with me."

Meister Kirisaki just smirked, crossing his arms. "You don't know me, either. And no, I won't stop playing games with you." He responded. "Monica, Monica, Monica...This will be interesting and entertaining." _And also possibly exhausting to myself at first, _He wanted to add out loud, but he kept that in the corners of his mind.

_I think this will really be interesting from now on..._


	2. Sister, Brother

**2. Sister, Brother**

Monica learned very quickly, the next day, that despite her master being somewhat strict at times and occasionally messed with her mind with mini-rants of the psychological sort, he wasn't too bad. Just...Odd. He was very odd to her. There was always this atmosphere around him; consisting of graceful elegance and touches of mystery. That atmosphere rolled into the way he treated her interactions with him like a game or experiment, which was something she felt slightly uncomfortable with.

Inaho, one of Meister Kirisaki's servants, explained to Monica as much as she could about him, to hopefully help Monica understand him a little more. The older female servant was great help to Monica, willing to show her how the maintenance of his quarters worked and such.

"His words can be a bit puzzling at times, I suppose. But overall, he's quite a nice person, really. At least, he's better than most of the male fighters lurking around here. I understand if you don't like him, considering that he did seem a bit unhappy with your behavior earlier, but he'll grow to like you if you stay on his good side."

"What if I get on his bad side?" Monica asked, crossing her arms.

Inaho stiffened, pausing before responding. "You don't want to know what he'll do if he gets angry or upset enough."

Monica immediately thought back to when Meister threatened her the previous evening with the _'Scavenger's Daughter.' _Perhaps it was some sort of torture device? She didn't know. She wasn't sure if she wanted to know.

Besides Inaho, there was Kuroyanagi. He didn't really seem to pay too much attention to Monica, at least, not right now. Instead, he was the one servant Meister talked the most with, and Monica immediately assumed that he must be a favorite or something of the sort.

* * *

It was only after lunch that Kai Suwabara arrived at the door. Meister, Monica, and everyone else were surprised by his sudden arrival, but Meister welcomed him inside.

"Your decision to come over here was quite quick." Meister spoke, smiling a bit. "Did you come here to see Monica? I assure you she is more properly dressed now."

"...It's not that. It's your sister, Sophie."

Meister immediately went still, his smile fading to nothing. Monica had no idea what was going on, but she figured she might as well ask Kuroyanagi or Inaho later.

"What happened? Is she alright?" Meister asked quietly, his voice suddenly sounding a bit hoarser than usual.

"...The crowd got _sick_ of her last night. Apparently they didn't like her fighting in the Arena anymore... They grabbed her, dragged her out of the Arena, and sold her at the Slave Auction last night, as item number 677. I was there to see it, because I decided to look around the auction because of boredom, and that's when I saw her, tied up and all... I tried to bid for her her so she wouldn't be handed over to any of the other fighters, but it got so intense and I ended up losing. I'm sorry. She's been handed over to the Kayser Brothers as their servant."

Meister's eyes seemed to widen considerably, before a hand smashed into the wall to his left, causing a dent to form. "Dang it." He muttered under his teeth. "Dang it...I could have bought her if I stayed a bit longer...Dang it..." He slumped onto a couch, holding his head in his hands. Kuroyanagi extended a hand to him, but Meister gave him a look that said, _Don't touch me. _"...Kai. Thank you for telling me." He muttered after a moment of silence. "If you plan to stay any longer, make yourself at home."

"I think I'll leave. You need some time to yourself. I'm sorry about the whole thing...And, if you want to talk with me anytime soon you can go ahead. You don't need to call me in advance." Kai mumbled in response, before he glanced at Monica. "And you...You've made an improvement. If you know any better right now, then you'll help him. If not, you're a fool." He uttered to her before heading through the door and shutting it behind him.

_Cold, _Monica thought, _But he has a point._

"Um...Meister..." She paused, before speaking. "Is there anything I can do? I could get you tissue or something-"

"No. I'll be fine." Meister responded quickly, standing up but averting his gaze from her. "Go to Inaho in the kitchen and help her make a dozen red velvet cupcakes with rose pink icing. Make sure to put lots of rainbow star-shaped sprinkles on top before putting a black cherry on it at the end. Get Kuroyanagi to my room, I will be there waiting for him. Understood?"

"Yes, Meister." Monica paused. "Is there anything else? And...I have a question."

"No, there is nothing else. And what is this question, exactly?" Meister asked quietly, his eyes making contact with her own.

"...Why are you being so specific about the cupcakes?"

"..." Meister didn't say anything at first, before responding. "I have a visitor tonight. Mizuno Azusagawa. I feel that I want the cupcakes to extra-special for her. Now, get out of my mind and please go make those cupcakes with Inaho."

_...Well, that was blunt..._

* * *

"You don't know who Mizuno Azusagawa is?" Inaho asked as she took the tray of cupcakes out of the oven and set them onto the kitchen counter. "She's the youngest fighter in the Arena, seriously. She joined about, oh, a year ago and though a lot of people underestimated her at first, she's been doing really well to the point that she already has one servant. Rumour has it that she's planning on getting another servant soon; probably so she can do less cleaning around her quarters. Meister likes her a lot-not in the romantic sense, but one can say that she's like a little sister to him. Putting that into account, you probably shouldn't get her upset in any way. You'll regret it if you do."

"I see..." Monica trailed off as she grabbed the small jar of rainbow star-shaped sprinkles from a cupboard. "I tried to ask Meister about why he specifically needed the cupcakes for this evening this way, but he seemed really pissed off while he was answering..."

"Oh dear..." Inaho paused, before continuing. "You don't want to ask him too many questions when he's upset. Heck, just refrain from asking questions entirely when he's upset. It's not going to help his mood, and it's not going to help you either."

"I wish I could have heard that fact earlier..." Monica muttered under her breath. "Why does he see her as a little sister? Is it because of the fact that she's way younger than him?"

"Well, that's one factor, I guess." Inaho responded, shrugging a bit and leaning against the counter. "I think it's mainly because she reminds him of when he was a child, before everyone got wrapped up in the idea of the Arena. He loves the fighting and hates it all at the same time, Monica. In the extremities...He'll be ruthlessly killing and laughing in triumph after decapitating who-knows-how-many people, but then the next day he'll be voicing his opinions to Kuroyanagi and I about how much he hated killing those people. I don't know what sort of event in the past might have twisted him like that so drastically, but I think it's all the Arena's fault that he's like this. I also think sometimes that he's envious of Mizuno."

"Envious? Why? He has more servants, fame and glory than her..." Monica trailed off.

"...He's envious because she can still be that child that she is. He can't, even though it was probably stripped away from him during childhood. That's my theory, anyway. I don't actually know why."

* * *

Mizuno Azusagawa was somebody one could call the cute-but-kind-of-tomboyish sort of person. At least in terms of appearance. Her bright red hair was short, and she looked, well, like a kid. She was shorter than Monica by a good amount of inches, and she seemed to be a bit curious.

"Sylvan, who is she?" Mizuno asked, gesturing to Monica.

"She's my new servant. I bought her yesterday at the Slave Auction." Meister flatly replied. "Her name is Monica Adenauer..."

Mizuno seemed to frown a bit. "You don't seem too delighted to see me...What's going on?"

"...Let's talk in private. Not in front of my servants, please." He muttered quietly, before the two went into his bedroom, carrying the cupcakes with them, and shut the door quietly behind them.

Monica couldn't hear what they were talking about, and she knew she probably shouldn't be eavesdropping, so she let it go. Instead, she turned to Kuroyanagi, deciding that now was a good time to ask questions.

"...I know Sophie is Meister's sister, but...How close were they?"

The raven-haired servant paused, before answering. "Sophie and Meister are very close, Monica. Very. It would make sense for him to be so upset. But knowing him, he'll try to brush it off starting tomorrrow." He let out a sigh. "I don't really think it's good for him to bottle up all those feelings, but he just vents them in battle in the Arena. At least it's not like he's out to kill us the next day or something because of a minor mistake on something or the like."

Monica glanced at Meister's bedroom door, before departing to her own room to think about all the things she had learned and heard about throughout the past hours.

* * *

_"You know, Mizuno...You're the best little sister I've really had besides her. I just don't want them to do the same to you."_

_"I get it. And you know what? You're the best brother I ever had. I mean it."_

_"Thank you." Light blue eyes seemed to darken a bit as wheels began to turn in his mind._

_The battle tomorrow morning was going to have much blood being spilled. _


	3. Manipulative Animal

**3. Manipulative Animal**

Monica let out a sigh as she lay in bed, not wanting to get up and start to make breakfast for Meister. She was tired from the previous day, from doing all the cooking, cleaning and everything that she had to do late into the night. Meister had appeared to show at least a little sympathy, however, and let her go get some sleep at around midnight while Inaho and Kuroyanagi finished things up with the cleaning and preparing things for tomorrow.

At least she had a more decent night's sleep than Inaho and Kuroyanagi, and maybe Meister, too. Surely, she figured, they must get up quite early and go to bed quite late...

She got up, dressed herself quickly and pulled her hair back into the two long pigtails that she always sported. She then took the next moment to stretch a bit, before going outside of her room to prepare breakfast with the other two servants.

* * *

Meister didn't eat much. That was something that occurred to Monica. He didn't eat anything too fancy, either. Just a boiled egg and a piece of toast with a glass of milk. Kuroyanagi had beat Monica to preparing the breakfast, and instead made her wash the dishes.

"Today," Meister spoke up after a moment of silence, "I have a tag-team match in the Arena with Suwabara. Afterwards I will come back here to clean up, before I go see Satsuki..."

Kuroyanagi seemed to freeze slightly at the mention of 'Satsuki,' but Monica noticed that he shook it off moments after freezing and continued to towel-dry the wet dishes Monica handed to him.

"I'm not sure how long that will take, but expect me to be back before dinner at 6:30 this evening." Meister finished. "While I'm gone, I expect that you three will maintain the quarters as usual. I also need you to run some laundry-dark laundry, specifically."

"Understood." Inaho responded quietly. As Meister left the table and towards his room, Monica turned towards her. "What is it, Monica?"

"Who is Satsuki?" Monica asked quietly, her head somewhat tilted to the side. "Is she a friend of his, too?"

"Yes, in a way." The brown-haired servant responded, nodding once. "Kuroyanagi also knows her. She's the twin sister of his now-deceased girlfriend, Cathy. Kuroyanagi dated Cathy until she got murdered one night by someone. No one knows who killed Cathy or why. Kuroyanagi, he..." She glanced at Kuroyanagi before continuing. "He thinks that Meister is behind it, as Meister seemed so eager to take in Kuroyanagi as a servant at the time, too..."

"Oh." Monica also glanced at Kuroyanagi, who was silent. The raven-haired man was currently putting the dried dishes away. "It must really be a double hit in the face for him, considering that he is working for someone who possibly killed his girlfriend..."

"Yeah. It is."

Kuroyanagi let out a sigh after closing the cupboard, and he walked towards the closet to retrieve a duster. He didn't look anywhere close to delighted after Cathy had been mentioned. Not at all.

* * *

_"And now, the match you've been waiting for, folks!" _The announcer shouted. _"It's a tag team match of death! Kai Suwabara and Meister Kirisaki versus Katsuo Umino and Ryuu Roumen!"_

The crowd roared as the four fighters entered the arena, with Kai and Meister entering the arena from the left side while Katsuo and Ryuu entered from the right.

Kai glanced at Meister, who glanced at Ryuu before glancing back at Kai. His facial expression said something, and Kai knew what it meant.

_Gang up on Ryuu, kill him quickly, and save Katsuo for the pleasure of the torture and the kill. _

Kai merely complied, giving Meister a nod. Whenever Meister was in any sort of team for the fights, the others better obey him...Otherwise he would kill them halfway through and make it look like the other fighters did it. The samurai paused, before taking out his katana blade and charging towards Ryuu, who jumped out of the way. His hands balled into fists, and he leapt back at Kai, ready to punch him.

Ryuu's punch never hit anything. The bare-fisted fighter's head rolled on the ground, before the rest of his body fell with a thud resounding afterwards.

_"Looks like Roumen is out of the fight-permanently!" _The announcer crowed as the crowd roared with excitement. Kai glanced at Meister, who appeared to look a bit pleased by the quick kill. He then turned his attention towards Katsuo, who looked like he was quivering in terror.

Kai thought he saw a smile flicker temporarily on Meister's face, but diminished the thought as soon as Meister spoke up.

"Immobilize the pig. I'll let you stab him _once_ before I take the rest of the glory, Suwabara-san. Don't worry, though. I'll give you half my earnings from this match. Promise." Meister seemed to smile gently again at Kai, eyes flickering with the truth. "Go on. You know what to do."

Kai let out a sigh, before taking out a needle laced with a relaxant and walking towards the chubby fighter. As much as he seriously hated taking orders from Meister like this, at least he would get money. And money meant that he could get himself food, maybe upgrade his katana blade if he wanted to. That was how Meister controlled him, in a way. Besides that, though, at least he was guaranteed the fact that Meister wouldn't stab him in the back-as long as Kai didn't go against him, that is.

* * *

Monica closed her eyes before she could see Meister gave Katsuo the last stab onscreen, before clicking the off button on the remote. The small television, perched on a shelf, shut off just as Kuroyanagi walked into the living room, having finished cleaning the bathroom.

"You saw the match?" Kuroyanagi spoke up quietly.

"You would know if I did." Monica responded, turning towards him as she put the remote down on a table before checking the timer on the oven. She had decided earlier to bake some cookies for Meister-he seemed to like sweets, and making sweets was something she was good at, after all. Perhaps it would help him appreciate her presence a bit more or something.

Kuroyanagi glanced at the oven, taking a whiff of the baking sweets inside. "Sweets aren't going to sway Meister that easily, by the way." He spoke after a moment of silence. "He'll probably check them all to make sure they don't have poison in them or something."

Monica let out a sigh as glanced at the oven timer again. "I get why you don't like Meister. You think he killed your girlfriend..."

"He must have been." Kuroyanagi responded sharply, glaring at her. "Why else would he want me to be his servant? I had no family. The only close personal connection I had with anyone besides them was with Cathy. Take that away, I have nothing left, which would leave me vulnerable and in need of some sort of company, no matter what it was. It had to be him."

Before Monica could speak up, he turned away from her and left the room right away.

* * *

Satsuki let out a sigh as Meister sat opposite her. "I'm glad that you came to visit again." She started, pushing a lock of dirty-blond hair behind her ear. "It's been a while."

"True." Meister agreed, smiling back at her. "I am glad you allow me to visit, taking into circumstances of the rumours that circulate about me...How have things been lately?"

"Well..." Satsuki paused, before continuing. "...It's been getting harder to pay rent lately. I've been working a lot of shifts, but it just doesn't seem to be enough. It seems that the best way to get permanent shelter right now is to be a servant to one of the fighters in the Arena. I don't want to sink as low as that, though. I don't want to be sold as a slave, I want to live my own life."

Meister nodded once. "Well...I'm not sure if this will help you, but..." He took an envelope out of the inside pocket of his coat and extended it towards her. "It's my earnings from today's match in the Arena. I let Suwabara-san take half of it, though, because he so cooperative."

Satsuki just shook her head a little. "Really, Sylvan, you shouldn't just be called an animal. You should be called a _manipulative_ animal, considering of what you do to your allies during team matches. And it goes outside of the fights, too."

"I know." Meister responded, crossing his legs a bit but still keeping the money extended towards her. "But I'm not here to _manipulate_ you, I'm here to _help_ you. Please understand that..."

"I know that." Satsuki bit her lip a little. "I know that you're trying to help me get by since Cathy was murdered. And I believe that you didn't do it. It's just...Every time you come around with a paycheck or raw cash to help me pay for rent or food or something it makes me feel like I owe you something."

"Satsuki...You allowing me to be in your apartment to visit you is more than enough payment." The masked blond replied quietly. "And by the way, you can be my servant if you do end up getting kicked out of the apartment anytime. Just come running to my quarters and I'll be there, I swear."

"If I do that, Kuroyanagi will think that you forced me to become your servant like you did to him."

"I never forced him." Meister responded with a slightly sharper tone, dropping the envelope of money on the coffee table that separated them. "I only offered it to him, many times, because I knew that he was a reliable worker and that he was also struggling with rent like you. It wasn't because Cathy was 'in the way' as Kuroyanagi has assumed for the past six months. And...He reminded me of when I was a child...struggling in the streets and doing what I could to help myself and my sister to survive. I didn't want him wasting away like that."

"So it was out of pity." Satsuki concluded, crossing her arms.

"Yes. Out of pity." Meister responded quietly, crossing his arms as well. "Inaho was pretty much the same case, except she almost fell to the level of a slave, and I mean a sexual one. If I hadn't stepped in, she would be catering to strangers' sexual needs every night with possible chances of getting infections or a case of unwanted pregnancy. I couldn't let that happen, could I?" He paused, before smirking. "And then there was Monica, number 666. She's a new one...I obtained her a couple days ago."

"That's the same number as your fighter number..." Satsuki trailed off quietly. Meister nodded, before continuing to speak.

"That was one reason I chose to buy her from the Auction. Another reason was that, well..." Meister paused, before finishing. "I am thinking of attempting to train someone to become a fighter for the Arena, and she just might be perfect for the job. Yes, there are risks of her getting killed, but obviously she has better use than just simply serving me. If successful, I believe it can help her in some way...So that she won't end up like some fighters that get sold as slaves due to incompetence in their fighting skills..." He gritted his teeth at the last statement

"You're thinking about Sophie, aren't you?" Satsuki spoke up. "You don't want Monica to end up like Sophie if she does become a fighter in the Arena. Am I right?"

"..."

* * *

Monica sighed as she lay in bed quietly, looking up at the ceiling. Meister hadn't come back home yet, and it was almost 1:00 a.m. in the morning. She wondered what he might be doing, and why he's so late in coming back...

Oh well. She let herself fall to slumber. Next morning would just start another day of being his slave, anyway. Or would it?


	4. The Fist that broke Titanium

**4. The Fist that broke Titanium**

"Get up. _Now."_

Monica felt a sharp nudge as she blinked her eyes open to her senses. Meister Kirisaki looked down at her, his light blue eyes seemingly darkened as he looked at her. "What?" He spoke after a moment of silence. "Don't you know you're supposed to obey commands, or did you rot your brain senseless with nothing to do? Get up."

Monica quickly got out of bed, standing and facing him. The older man seemed...different.

"You better see what you're going to go through as a favour from me to you, because obviously you're too feisty to be a servant of mine. I like them better when they're more, ah, _submissive_." Meister continued speaking, crossing his arms as he eyed her carefully. "How long have I had you as a servant? At least a week? One week, and I haven't been able to find a single weakness to make you crack. Obviously, you've got good pain tolerance-how else would you be able to make those candy creations without screaming your head off-and you seem to deal well with the loss of loved ones, unlike Kuroyanagi. So, how do I make you crack?"

Monica wasn't sure if she was supposed to respond. She eventually did, however, breaking the silence and not caring about how rude it sounded.

"If I had something that would break me emotionally or literally, I wouldn't tell you. Duh."

Meister said nothing for a moment, before chuckling a bit.

"Monica...You have no idea how strenuous we fighters train for the Arena."

* * *

Monica never did anymore chores for him. All she did, day after day, was undergo his training so she could be a fighter for the Arena.

A fighter. _A fighter?_ Why did he want her to be one? Was he really that sick of her, or did he want to do this for his own amusement? She didn't get it, but she figured being a fighter would be better than working for this man, no matter how good he was to her in the beginning.

Slowly, but surely, she grew stronger and stronger. As each day passed, she began to hate him more and more as he mocked her, teased her, and laughed at her. She wanted to strangle him, to kick in the groin a couple times, to maybe even beat him to a complete pulp.

"Come on! You can do better than that!"

There he was. The Meister was crowing and laughing at her. Shirtless and barely breaking a sweat, he fought her barehanded. She tried to kick him in the groin, but he flipped backwards until he was a few feet away from her. He rushed towards her, trying to punch her, but she quickly ducked downwards and rolled out of the way.

"Remember the promise I made? If you can punch this-" He gestured to the titanium mask on his face, "-and if it breaks or at least has a huge crack, I'll let you become an official fighter in this twisted tournament!" He seemed to smirk, and he paused before continuing. "Of course, what chance do you have? I'm stronger than you."

"Shut up!" Monica shouted as she tried to kick him, but grabbed her foot with one hand and threw her across the floor. She hit the closest wall, before slumping into a heap.

Meister let out a sigh. "Perhaps not today." He murmured quietly, before turning his back to her. "Get some rest. You're done for today."

Monica looked at him as he started to walk away from her. She didn't want to wait another day! She wanted to get out of this hellish training-now. She didn't want to listen to any more of his taunts and teasing, nor feel him beat her to a pulp.

She had enough of this. Seriously, all this taunting and teasing from him wasn't going to fly towards her anymore. Immediately, she jumped up and leapt at him, wrapping her arms about his neck. Meister let out a gasp of surprise as she tried to reach for her throat, but he threw her onto the ground again.

"Still willing to fight?" Meister asked quietly. Monica didn't say a word, and glared at him still. "You really want to prove that you can punch my mask, don't you, so you can get into that tournament...? Alright. Don't complain about any more injuries you get for today."

With that being said, he leapt at her, and the two rolled across the floor, wrestling and grappling at each other as if trying to kill. Monica tried to punch his face, but he kept smacking her fists out of the way with his arms before punching her in the face.

She didn't move. He looked at her carefully, noticing her closed eyes and somewhat-calm breathing. Maybe she went unconscious? Perhaps he'd punched a little too hard...He had never punched the lights out of her in his training before.

Before he could react, though, a fist hurled itself towards his face and hit the left side of his titanium face.

He staggered backwards slightly, his hands flying to his face. He felt cracks all over the left side, and he couldn't help but be fascinated with this. He traced them gently-

Only for the cracked bits of titanium to splinter off his mask and fall to the ground.

Monica stood, a few feet away from him. She didn't look too angry now. In fact, she looked shocked-very shocked.

He was shocked, too.

"You win. I'll sign you up." Meister spoke, removing the rest of his mask as he faced her. He frowned at her facial expression of still shock. "What's with that look on your face? You resented me, right? You must be _happy _that you finally broke my mask. You wanted to get away from me as soon as possible, right?"

"What-" Monica paused, before speaking. "Hold it. So that means-"

"Yes." Meister smirked a little bit. "I'm not called a _'Manipulative Animal' _for nothing, Monica. I manipulated your feelings by taunting and teasing you, while boasting about my so-called superior abilities, therefore making you hate me and wanting to fight me more." He let out a sigh, the smirk turning to a smile. "Pretty neat plan, isn't it?"

Monica wasn't sure if he was manipulating her because he wanted her to get away from his company anymore, or if it was for a better reason than that.

"Oh, get that frown off your face...At least you don't have to suffer under my hands that much anymore." His frown seemed to become more permanent as soon as his statement was finished.

"What?" Monica didn't get it.

Meister let out a sigh. "The 'animal' part of my reputation comes from my abilities to _prolong_ lots of torture towards anyone I fight. I've even tortured my _servants_ before-every one of them except for you, because you've never disobeyed my commands when you served me, and Inaho, who has never angered me to that point because her times of disobeying me were minor things compared to others. Kuroyanagi tried to escape several times, but stopped since two months ago after I gave him a complete torture session with the Scavenger's Daughter and other items. If you only have to fight me a few times during your time in the Arena, it will be a lot less painful." He let out a sad chuckle. "I don't want to hurt...pretty, strong people like you, anyway. I only go for the weak ones..."

Monica felt an impulse to walk over to him and maybe apologize for breaking the mask. Instead, she stayed silent and still, listening to Meister, who was finishing the ramble.

"I don't really know why I go for the weak ones, honestly. Maybe it's because they're all reflections of me inside."

* * *

**Author note: ...Augh...This is why I hate writing combat scenes...they take so long to do... (sigh) Sorry for the late update-hopefully the next one should be up a lot sooner, considering that I have a lot more time on my hands to write now. Thanks for your patience! :)**


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